Sometimes your friends start to talk about a new video game or a new app they have downloaded. It sounds pretty cool, and your friends really seem to like it. You become so {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (interest) in it that you want to buy it too. Has this ever happened to you?

    In the US and in places around the world, there is a similar feeling of wanting the {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (new) , greatest tech gadgets (小玩意). There is a big {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (attract) to getting the latest technology even though people may not need it. But why is this?

    There's {#blank#}4{#/blank#} initial （最初的）excitement about these technologies that {#blank#}5{#/blank#} ( get ) people's attention, according to Richard Larson, a director at MIT, US. If there's a big group of people {#blank#}6{#/blank#} want these things, you want to be a part of the excitement too.

    One of the major US {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (company) that really take advantage of this is Apple. It comes out with a new iPhone with very small changes every year. But people still flock (涌入) to the stores even if they have just bought the previous phone.

    However, {#blank#}8{#/blank#} （buy）these things may not always be the best choice. You could be buying things that you don't really need and {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (spend) too much money just for the right to show it off to your friends.

    Not only that, but our need to always be on your phones or playing video games takes {#blank#}10{#/blank#} a lot of time in our lives. So is this excitement over technology a good or a bad thing?

    Ask three people to look out of the same window at a busy street corner and tell you what they see. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}(chance) are that you will receive three different answers. Each person sees the same scene, but each perceives something different about {#blank#}2{#/blank#}.

    Perceiving goes on in our minds. Of {#blank#}3{#/blank#} three people who look out of the window, one may say that he sees a policeman {#blank#}4{#/blank#}(give) a motorist a ticket. Another may say that he sees rush-hour traffic jam at the intersection. The {#blank#}5{#/blank#}(three) may tell you that he sees a woman trying to cross the street with four children. Perception is the mind's {#blank#}6{#/blank#}(interpret) of what the senses — in this case our eyes — tell us.

    Many psychologists today are working to try {#blank#}7{#/blank#}(determine) just how a person experiences or perceives the world around. Using a scientific approach, these psychologists set up experiments in  {#blank#}8{#/blank#} they can control all of the factors.  {#blank#}9{#/blank#} measuring and charting the results of many experiments, they are trying to find out what makes different people perceive  {#blank#}10{#/blank#}(total) different things about the same scene.

    Marriage can vary {#blank#}1{#/blank#}(great) from country to country. There are many different kinds of {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(marry) ceremonies practiced around the world. One of the largest and most expensive wedding ceremonies {#blank#}3{#/blank#}(hold) in Dubai in 1981. At this wedding, the well-to-do son of Sheik Rashid Bin Saeed Al Maktoum married Princess Salama in a large building {#blank#}4{#/blank#} was built for the ceremony. There were 20,000guests at the wedding. The cost was close to $44 million.

    A man and a woman may choose to get married for many {#blank#}5{#/blank#}(reason). Sometimes they marry because they are in love. Sometimes they marry because their parents tell them that they must marry.

    The {#blank#}6{#/blank#}(young) couple in the world to get married was a 11-month-old boy (the groom) and a three-month-old girl (the bride). {#blank#}7{#/blank#} couple got married in Bangladesh in 1986.

    The parents of the bride and the groom arranged the marriage in order to end a fight between the two families without either family {#blank#}8{#/blank#}(have) to lose face in the end. The families had been arguing over a farm for 20 years. Both the bride family and the groom family thought that they owned the farm, but no one knew for sure. The fight ended for good {#blank#}9{#/blank#} the young boy married the young girl. The two families agreed {#blank#}10{#/blank#}(give) the farm to the young couple.

    The beautiful canola (油菜) flowers in spring attracted a large number of visitors to Hanzhong, a city in the south of western Shaanxi province. The city's 9th annual canola flower festival {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (start) on March 13 and ended on May 1, 2018. There were more than 600 square kilometers of canola fields in Hanzhong, {#blank#}2{#/blank#} created unique scenery. About 50 observation spots {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (design) for the tourists throughout the city.

    Visiting Xi'an was once my dream. It became a reality when I was admitted to a training course in China along with two other {#blank#}1{#/blank#}(lady). Finally, the day arrived {#blank#}2{#/blank#} I landed at Xianyang International Airport in early August. As soon as I landed, I {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (feel) a change in the atmosphere. I saw people standing in queues {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (wait) for their turn at the immigration desk. Afterwards, we were transported to the office in the International Exhibition Center. China had invited participants {#blank#}5{#/blank#} twenty-three developing countries to share digital television broadcasting techniques with them.

    In my 20 days in Xi'an, I got the opportunity to observe Chinese Culture closely, {#blank#}6{#/blank#} thus it left an unforgettable mark on me. Now, Xi'an is like my second home. Since I came back to Pakistan, I have been missing Xi'an {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (bad).

    My 20-day stay in Xi'an was {#blank#}8{#/blank#} great experience. It was a learning opportunity, and also a chance to {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (broad) my understanding of diversity. I learned that despite differences of colors, heights, races and religions, all human beings {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (tie) by the bond of humanity, and that the future of nations is global with development and peace.

    I wonder if it's because I haven't been able to be outdoor for so long {#blank#}1{#/blank#}I've grown so crazy about very everything {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (do) with nature. I can well remember that there was{#blank#}3{#/blank#} time when a deep blue sky, the song of the birds, moonlight and flowers could never have kept me spellbound. That {#blank#}4{#/blank#}(change) since I was here.

    One evening when it was so warm, I stayed awake{#blank#}5{#/blank#} purpose until half past eleven in order to have a good look at the moon by {#blank#}6{#/blank#}. But as the moon gave far too much light, I didn't dare open a window. Another time five months ago, I happened to be upstairs at dusk when the window was open. I didn't go downstairs {#blank#}7{#/blank#}the window had to be shut.

    Sadly …I am only able to look at nature {#blank#}8{#/blank#} dirty curtains hanging before very dusty windows. It's no pleasure {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (look) through these any longer because nature is one thing that really must {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (experience).